A cocaine kingpin dubbed The Major stole military medals and thousands of pounds of jewellery in a series of home raids.

Michael Allsopp was locked up for 12 years in 2003 for masterminding a massive conspiracy to flood Tyneside with drugs.

Allsopp, who had links to murdered Tyneside playboy Peter Beaumont Gowling, was left unable to pay the mortgage on his plush Gosforth home after losing his job just before Christmas.

The former Mr Big, 57, again turned to crime to fund his lifestyle, breaking into houses while still on licence for the cocaine plot.

Now Allsopp, snared when an off-duty police officer spotted him and followed him home, is back behind bars after he admitted raiding two homes on the same morning.

He stole more than £8,000 of jewellery and also helped himself to NATO medals belonging to one of his victims. Newcastle Crown Court heard Allsopp burgled a house on Cloverfields, Shiremoor, North Tyneside, on March 1 this year.

Prosecutor Caroline McGuirk said: “He smashed a double-glazed patio door and conducted a messy search in all the rooms of the house.

“The householder said the house was completely ransacked.”

Allsopp made off with jewellery worth £5,620, some of which had been handed down by family members, two Nato medals, two bottles of Champagne and a laptop.

The female victim, who had just got married and moved into the new marital home, said in a statement: “I can’t stop thinking about the fact someone has been in my house and gone through our personal things.”

Allsopp also broke into a house on Carlisle Close, Holystone, North Tyneside, on the same morning.

Allsopp was spotted in Shiremoor by the off duty police officer, who followed him to his home in Sheldon Grove, Gosforth, where some of the stolen property was recovered.

Allsopp pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and was jailed for three years. Ten years ago Allsopp was jailed for 12 years for masterminding a huge drugs plot.

He had already served a lengthy jail term for drugs money laundering along with murdered former associate Peter Beaumont Gowling, but he couldn’t resist the jet-set drugs lifestyle when he was released early on appeal.

Allsopp, dubbed The Major for his organisational skills, and four other members of the gang were jailed after a trial. He was said to be the organiser, controlling the pick-ups and movement of the drugs.

The Chronicle reported in 2009 how Allsopp had charges of swindling his elderly mother while on day release from prison dropped.

He faced allegations of fraud and theft where the alleged victim was his frail 87-year-old mum Dulcie Grier.

But Allsopp’s legal team claimed prosecuting lawyers had failed to properly serve the case despite early court orders. Mrs Grier, from Gosforth, had also died in a nursing home, and that combination persuaded Judge Tony Lancaster to stay the case at Newcastle Crown Court.

Allsopp had denied two charges of fraud relating to allegations he rented then tried to sell his mother’s home. He further denied stealing £5,000 from her account.